Tire repair including tire retreading is well known in the art. It is also well known that some level of testing of the tire prior to repair including retreading is normally conducted to determine whether it is appropriate to perform the operation. While in some instances testing may include simple visual inspection, it is often important in the case of retreading to determine the condition of internal components of the tire including, for example, sidewall casing wires.
Generally such determinations have been performed using x-ray analysis based upon visual or shearographic image inspection. Frequently shearographic image inspection is actually followed by x-ray inspection to determine if an identified abnormality is cable related. Such methods, however, are time consuming and the required equipment is expensive to own and operate. It would be advantageous, therefore, to develop apparatus and methodologies that eliminate the need for some of these expensive and time consuming methods.
U.S. Pat. No. RE 40,166 to Sukhorukov et al. is directed to a magnetic non-destructive method and an apparatus for measurement of cross sectional area of elongated ferrous objects such as steel wire ropes and for detecting local flaws.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,991 to Weischedel is directed to a “Method and apparatus for magnetically inspecting elongated objects for structural defects.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,771 to Hamelin et al. is directed to “Apparatus for increasing linear resolution of electromagnetic wire rope testing.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,964 to Hamelin et al is directed to a “Wire rope damage index monitoring device.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,388 to Kaefer-Hoffmann et al. is directed to a “Device and process for detecting defects in the disposition of reinforcing members of magnetizable material in casing plies in the sidewall region of a tire.”
U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,535 to Stoila et al. is directed to a “Ply wire sensor system for a tire.”
While various implementations of tire inspection apparatus and methodologies have been developed, and while various combinations of inspection methodologies have been developed, no design has emerged that generally encompasses all of the desired characteristics as hereafter presented in accordance with the subject technology.